LAHORE, Aug 28: Officialdom by the commercial wing authorities of the Pakistan Railways has started affecting operations of Business Express, putting once again the future of the first joint venture of the Pakistan Railways under private-public partnership in jeopardy.

Earlier, provision of ‘unfit’ locomotives and power vans that failed en route had caused embarrassment for the company operating Business Express between Lahore and Karachi many a time and most passengers of the train got their tickets refunded.

In a recent incident, timely attachment of two coaches with the Business Express was not allowed though the charges were paid in advance according to a letter (No.5/PBE/4B/2012, dated 27.08.2012) written by the company to the PR general manager (operations).

The letter said that a “written request was made to (Railways) chief operating superintendent through (Central) Control Office at the headquarters office in Lahore on Aug 25 to attach one coach each with the Karachi-bound and Lahore-bound Business Express the following day.

“The Lahore station manager collected fare charges of both coaches amounting to Rs332,640, but attachment of coaches were disallowed by the (authorities at) headquarters whereas both the coaches had been booked. After great difficulty and contacts at high level, permission was granted two hours before the departure time of the train from Karachi and Lahore,” said the letter.